University of Memphis Athletics
University of Memphis
-196, 73 CUSA
Southern Miss
-186, 74 CUSA
Tigers Down Southern Miss, 67-61
Feb 12, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2011
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. - As the season winds down, Memphis men's basketball entered Saturday's match-up with Southern Miss in the unusual position of needing a quality win to solidify its position `on the bubble' for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Standing in Memphis' way was a Golden Eagle squad that entered play in second place in the conference, but also hadn't beaten the Tigers since 2004 and had never won a game against the Tigers at FedExForum. That trend continued Saturday when the Tigers (19-6, 7-3 Conference USA) stormed back from a 12-point first-half deficit to take down the Golden Eagles (18-6, 7-4 C-USA) 67-61 before a season-best home crowd of 18,104.
"Southern Miss is a good basketball team," said Memphis head coach Josh Pastner. "We were fortunate to get the W again. The guys came through late and got big rebounds when we needed them. This is a very big win for Tiger Nation. "We needed the sixth man, and Tiger Nation was magical tonight. The place was rocking tonight. They (the fans) have been unbelievable all year, but extra special tonight."
The beginning of the game was eerily reminiscent of the teams' battle in Hattiesburg Jan. 19 when Southern Miss jumped out to an early 14-4 lead. This time, the Golden Eagles scored 11 of the game's first 14 points in the opening four minutes to get out ahead of the Tigers 11-3.
Southern Miss extended the lead to 12 points following a jumper from C-USA leading scorer Gary Flowers at the 9:59 mark. Slowly, Memphis chipped away at the Golden Eagle lead with a Joe Jackson three-pointer and two Tarik Black lay-ups, getting the Tigers to within two points at 25-23 with 6:29 to go in the half. That was as close as the Tigers would get before halftime and entered the locker room behind by six at 37-31. The story of the half was the Tigers' inability to control the glass, allowing Southern Miss nine offensive rebounds and 10 second-chance points in the game's first 20 minutes.
The Tigers started to grind back to pull even in the second half. Trailing by 10 after a D.J. Newbill jumper, Memphis was willed back into contention by seven Will Barton points and two huge three-pointers from Charles Carmouche, the second of which knotted the score at 51-all with 8:44 to play in the game.
Memphis was helped in this game by the foul situation that plagued Southern Miss' Flowers, who played only 19 minutes and was held to 14 points. The Golden Eagle forward fouled out of the contest with 4:50 remaining in the game. The teams battled back and forth down the stretch with neither squad able to gain the upper hand for longer than a possession or two.
Following Flowers fifth foul, Memphis regained its confidence. With 2:45 to go, Black, who entered the contest as a 53 percent free throw shooter, drained his sixth and seventh free throws of the evening (in eight attempts) to put the Tigers up for good at 59-58.
"The guys battled tonight," said Pastner. "You have to give them a lot of credit. We went small, big, zone, double-teams, switching ... we even went triangle on two possessions. Our players deserve all the credit for this one."
Freshman Chris Crawford hit four big free throws down the stretch to ice the game for Memphis, who leapfrogged Southern Miss and pulled into a tie with UAB, whose game was still going on at press time, for second in Conference USA.
The Tigers return to the court Wednesday, Feb. 16, hosting UAB in a 6 p.m. tilt that will be televised on CBS College Sports.
